Holtz wins on wild day in South Bend

Kayvon Webster returned a fumble 96 yards for an early touchdown as South Florida came to Notre Dame for the first time and stunned the 16th-ranked Irish 23-20 Saturday in a game disrupted for hours because of storms.

USF coach Skip Holtz got an emotional victory in his return to Notre Dame, where he went to school and where his dad Lou led the Irish to their last national title in 1988.

Webster's long return for a score four minutes into the game took all the momentum from the Irish and they couldn't recover. It came after Notre Dame took the opening kickoff and drove to the USF 1.

What followed was a nightmare first half that included two fumbles, a holding penalty that nullified a Cierre Wood TD run and then an interception of Dayne Crist by USF's Devekeyan Lattimore in the end zone that turned the Irish away.

Maikon Bonani kicked three field goals and the Bulls had a 16-0 halftime lead.

Then things got even stranger.

With the crowd getting restless over Notre Dame's erratic play as the teams left the field for halftime, and with lightning flashing near the stadium, officials asked fans to evacuate Notre Dame Stadium and decided to keep the teams in their locker rooms.

They stayed there for 2 hours and 10 minutes, sitting through a couple of bands of violent storms. When the Irish finally emerged, they had switched quarterbacks from Crist to Tommy Rees, who led them to four straight victories as the starter at the end of last season. Crist was 7-of-15 for 85 yards.

The game was delayed a second time by severe weather with 4:21 to go and after a 43-minute delay, Jerrell Young intercepted Rees — Notre Dame's fifth turnover of the game.

Rees threw an 8-yard TD pass to Michael Floyd to cap a 99-yard drive with 21 seconds left as the Irish closed to 23-20. But USF recovered an onside kick and ran out the clock. Rees went 24-for-34 for 296 yards.

With the delays, the game lasted 5 hours, 59 minutes.

Oklahoma 47, Tulsa 14

Dominique Whaley ran for 131 yards and 4 touchdowns to lead Oklahoma.

LSU 40, Oregon 27

Michael Ford ran for 96 yards and two touchdowns for Lousiana State.

Boise State 35, Georgia 21

Boise State quarterback Kellen Moore threw for 261 yards and three touchdowns.

Auburn 42, Utah State 38

Auburn needed a successful onside kick and two touchdowns in the last 127 seconds to avoid a major upset to start the season.

Mike Dyer bulled through the line for a game-saving touchdown with 30 seconds left. First-time starter Barrett Trotter hit Philip Lutzenkirchen for a 15-yard touchdown to start the comeback.

The Aggies, led by freshman quarterback Chuckie Keeton, outgained the Tigers 448-364 and ran for 227 yards.

Taylor Martinez ran for 135 yards and three touchdowns out of Nebraska's new no-huddle offense and the Cornhuskers won their first game as Big Ten members.

Rex Burkhead added 75 yards and a touchdown as the Cornhuskers won their 26th consecutive opener, the longest streak in the nation.

Arkansas 51, Missouri State 7

Tyler Wilson threw for 260 yards and a pair of touchdowns to Jarius Wright, Joe Adams tied a Southeastern Conference record with two punt returns for touchdowns in the Razorbacks' win.

Wilson, who served as Ryan Mallett's backup the past two seasons, led the Razorbacks (1-0) to scores in each of his four possessions.

Ohio State 42, Akron 0

Starting his first game at quarterback for Ohio State, Joe Bauserman ran for a touchdown and threw three TD passes to tight end Jake Stoneburner to lead the Buckeyes in a sweltering season opener.

Stoneburner became the first Ohio State tight end to catch three TD passes in a game.

Missouri 17, Miami, Ohio 6

James Franklin ran for one touchdown and passed for the clinching score in his first career start, helping Missouri open with a victory over stubborn Miami of the MAC.

E.J. Gaines had an end zone interception for the Tigers, who whipped the RedHawks by 38 points in their final pre-Big 12 tuneup last season but had their struggles on both sides of the ball in 90-degree heat.

Florida 41, Florida Atlantic 3

John Brantley looked comfortable in Florida's new offense, Chris Rainey scored three different ways and the Gators opened the Will Muschamp era with a win.

Brantley completed 21-of-30 passes for 229 yards and a touchdown.

USC 19, Minnesota 17

Robert Woods caught a school-record 17 passes for 177 yards and three touchdowns, and USC hung on to spoil Jerry Kill's coaching debut for Minnesota .

Matt Barkley completed a school-record 34 passes for 304 yards for the Trojans, who still couldn't score in the second half of their 14th consecutive season-opening victory.

California 36, Fresno State 21

Zach Maynard threw for 266 yards and two touchdowns to Marvin Jones to lead California.

Isi Sofele ran for 83 yards and two touchdowns.

N.C. State 43, Liberty 21

Monroe graduate Audie Cole had 7 tackles, a fumble recovery and half a sack for the Wolfpack.

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